A disappointing dose of reality

The Dolphins were competitive in the first weeks of the 2020 season, but the bottom line is they couldn’t find a way to get a victory

- Alain Poupart

In the last issue of Dolphin Digest, the headline on this very page was, “Will better be good enough?”

If the first two weeks of the regular season were any indication, it’s clear the answer was no.

The Dolphins found themselves at 0-2 after dropping games against the New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills to open the 2020 season, just like they were 0-2 after opening 2019 with losses against the Baltimore Ravens and those same Patriots.

That the Dolphins are better is indisputable, and you can just look at the combined 52-39 scores this year and compare them of the 102-10 abomination of a year ago.

But what those first two games of 2020 provided was a dose of reality that the Dophins, while better, still aren’t there yet.

It’s certainly obvious on defense, where the large influx of talent had some suggesting this group could end up in the top half of the league after finishing 27th in 2019.

Again, that’s not what we saw in the first two weeks. What we saw was a group still lacking a pass rush, not able to stop the run in the opener, and not able to cover well enough in the home opener against Buffalo.